by Flemming Funch
John Perry Barlow has an interesting perspective on Dick Cheney (U.S. Vice President) and what he might be up to. John knows him personally and considers him one of the most intelligent people he has ever met, even if he doesn't agree with him. Well, John is one of the most intelligent people I've ever met, so that can't be overlooked. He thinks that Cheney is quite likely the brains behind the Bush strategy, and that he actually has thought the plan through in great detail."[T]hey are trying to convince every other nation on the planet that the United States is the Mother of All Rogue States, run by mad thugs in possession of 15,000 nuclear warheads they are willing to use and spending, as they already are, more on death-making capacity than all the other countries on the planet combined. In other words, they want the rest of the world to think that we are the ultimate weaving driver. Not to be trusted, but certainly not to be messed with either.
By these terrible means, they will create a world where war conducted by any country but the United States will seem simply too risky and the Great American Peace will begin. Unregulated Global Corporatism will be the only permissible ideology, every human will have access to McDonald's and the Home Shopping Network, all 'news' will come through some variant of AOLTimeWarnerCNN, the Internet will be run by Microsoft, and so it will remain for a long time. Peace. On Prozac." A horrible thought. But he might be right, that they're merely bluffing. We'll know soon enough.
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